Salvation Army needs cars for auto auction to fund rehab program

The Salvation Army is looking for 10 more cars for the auction on June 1. The cars do not have to run and free pickup is offered.

If you'd like to donate, contact the auction coordinator at (706) 826-7933 or visit SalvationArmyCars.com for more information.

News 12 at 11 o'clock / Wednesday, May 9th, 2013

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW) -- It's a lifetime battle that affects millions of people every day. Chances are, you know someone fighting a drug or alcohol addiction right now.

"I function real well, then I cycle back out then before I know it, I've lost my apartment, I've lost my car, and then I'm on the street," said Marty Rose, who has been fighting an alcohol addiction for 16 years.

After three years sober, he fell on hard times and ended up at the Salvation Army's drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.

"This gives us hope that there's more to life than what we've been living with," he said.

The program is a nine-month intensive work therapy that helps 24 men at a time.

"It's a chance to regain not only what I had but to get a vision of what I have," Rose said.

It's funded by quarterly auto auctions, but this quarter they don't have enough cars. With just three weeks left until the auction, they say this yard is usually bumper to bumper with cars, but as of Wednesday, there are still a lot of spaces that need to be filled.

"[We're] never this low this far away from the auction, so you know, [we're] a little panicky," said Capt. Tony Perez, area coordinator for the Salvation Army.

Each year they set a budget necessary to keep the program going.

"We don't want to cut anyone out of the program and that could potentially happen if we don't have the funds that we need to raise," Perez said.

He says they've never had to do that and hope they never have to. So they're reaching out for help, asking for cars to help fill the yard.

"Every car that we see that's in this place represents a life that could be changed," Perez said.

A life like Rose's and the people he lives with every day.

"I think about the Titanic when it went down and those people who were destined to meet in those lifeboats and that's what this is for us. For me, it's a lifeboat," Rose said.

Right now they are asking for just 10 more cars for the auction on June 1. They say that will keep the program running the way it is now.

The cars do not have to run, and the Salvation Army offers free pickup.

If you'd like to donate, contact the auction coordinator at (706) 826-7933 or visit SalvationArmyCars.com for more information.

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